I LOVE CHINA!!!

Ni Hao all! Ok, so I have so much to tell and definitely not enough time because we are using public computers right now. First of all, all my luggage got here safely and as far as I can tell nothing got stolen or anything. So I'm pretty happy about that. Anna wasn't so lucky. One of her big suitcases got left in California so she is still waiting for them to ship it here. We spent the first two days in Hong Kong and that was really cool. We stayed at the YMCA International House and there are about 30 girls in our group. Everyone has two huge suitcases plus some so it was hilarious watching the little Asians freak out when they saw our bus pull up. The first day in Hong Kong we got settled into our rooms and went to see the big Buddha statue. We opted to take the bus instead of the cable cars because it was cheaper, and it ended up being such a good choice! They drive so crazy here! We went up this little windy mountain road for like an hour. I don't know how those bus drivers manage to fit two huge busses on those roads going like 35 but they do it. We saw kind of like the outskirts of Hong Kong and beach and everything on our way up so it was really cool. The Buddah statue is on top of this huge mountain surrounded by the ocean and it is gorgeous!! I wish I could send you pictures, but it was like ultimate China. Anyway, the next day we went on a tour in the morning and went to Victoria Peak and a jewlery factory and stuff. It was cool. The bus dropped us off at church around 1:00. The ward was so amazing! It was mostly little Phillipino women who had left their children to come to Hong Kong to work and send them money. They were all so amazing and nice and cute. It was fast and testimony meeting so we got to hear a lot of their testomnies as well as some testimonies of the girls in my group. We have an awesome group. All the girls are really fun and we are all way close already. After church we took a ferry back to...somewhere (I usually pride myself in my sense of direction, but I have been completely disoriented ever since I got here.) We then took a bus down to the Hong Kong temple and we ran into some missionaries. Of course two of them were from Utah and we all knew the same people and everything. They took us on a little tour of the mission home and then we just took some pictures by the temple, which is gorgeous by the way. The next day we all woke up around 5:30 AM because our biological clocks are wacked out (the difference is 14 hrs...so right now it's 3:15 on Tuesday afternoon here and it's 1:15 Tuesday morning there). We walked down Nathan Street to this really yummy bakery and then took our breakfast up to this park we discovered. There were seriously like a million stairs and they were way steep. We almost didn't make it to the top. It sucks to realize how out of shape you are, especially when there are a bunch of 80 year old Asians at the top of the stairs laughing at you and egging you on. I really do feel like a fat American here. Everyone is so tiny. People at the park were doing tai chi and jogging with umbrellas because it's so hot. I definitely don't need lotion here, my sweat does the job. After that we took about a four hour bus ride across the border into mainland China. Customs was insane because of all of the luggage. The view out of my window the entire time was full of banana trees, rice paddies, and huge mountains. We finally pulled into Kayin (it's like a community inside Zhongshan) around 3:30 PM yesterday. When we saw it we were all freaking out because it is seriously like Beverly Hills. Our apartments are really nice and our back yard is just a big courtyard with walkways and ponds and gazebos and palm trees....I seriously feel like I'm just on vacation at an insanely nice resort. Ah I wish I could post pictures!!!! We are hoping that the internet will be set up within the next few days in our apartments so I will be able to call you guys and send you pictures. You won't be able to believe it! Oh and our community has a pool....and it's like the biggest pool I've ever seen. The Chinese ILP directors took us out to a really nice dinner last night and during dinner it started pouring rain. I was so excited because I have been having rainstorm withdrawals this whole year. Today we woke up early and did some P90X (thanks Jess and Adam!) and hung around until about noon and then took the bus into downtown Zhongshan to see our school. It isn't finished yet, but it is so amazing!! It's like nicer than any school I have ever seen in the U.S. There is a pool in the front and a huge dance room the size of a gym that will eventually have big mirrors and stuff in it. It's really open because the weather is always so nice here so all the hallways are outdoors and uncovered and surrounded by palm trees and stuff. They said our cafeteria will be really nice and they will have Asian food as well as western food so we can eat normal food if we really need to. I'm going to try and eat like a Chinese person as much as I can while I have the chance, but I have found that I'm already missing sandwiches and chocolate and breads and stuff. It's going to be tough. I haven't had any really bad experiences with food yet though. Anyway, our school is awesome and huge and I can't wait to meet all my little cute kids!!! With the olympics here things are kind of crazy so they aren't allowing foreigners to teach until the olympics are over. So as far as we know right now (plans change A LOT with the Chinese) we have a month to play and travel until we actually start teaching. Saawweeeet!!!! I better go, but I'll try and post as much as possible. We are really pushing to get the internet set up in our apartments so hopefully it will be soon. Love you all and I hope you're not missing me too much! I'm not missing anyone horribly yet :). I'm absolutely loving it here, I honestly don't think I'll ever want to come home. Adios! (I still don't know how to say goodbye in Mandarin...so spanish will have to do for now)